Intesive Care Service

The increasing prevalence of patients living with cancer in conjunction with the rapid progress in cancer therapy will lead to a growing number of patients with cancer who will require intensive care treatment.

Critical care has become an important cornerstone in the continuum of modern cancer care. The main reasons for admitting a cancer patient to an intensive-care unit are:

Postoperative recovery after major resection surgery

Critical complications of the cancer disease and its treatment such as tumour lysis syndrome and febrile neutropenia

Administration and monitoring of intensive anticancer treatment

Acute disease unrelated to cancer or its treatment

Al-Zahra Hospital (Dubai) intensive care unit is a 10-bed closed unit with 24 hour intensivist coverage. It is equipped with latest technology such as mechanical ventilators and bed-side monitors that is needed in the monitoring and management of critically ill oncology patients. Two of the 10 beds are negative pressure isolation beds with the ability to convert to positive pressure rooms whenever a patient with anti-cancer treatment neutropenia needs admission to ICU.

Services that can be provides for oncology patients at Al-Zahra Hospital (Dubai) includes

Management of cancer related complications such as tumour lysis syndrome including fluids and electrolytes management and renal replacement therapy

Management of patients with anti-cancer treatment complications such as febrile neutropenia with or without septic shock

The intensive care unit at Al-Zahra hospital (Dubai) is an essential part in the care of oncology patients and with the development of more effective oncologic therapies, advances in critical care, and improvements in patient selection, an increased survival of critically ill patients with cancer is expected.